Reynosa -- The Zetas drug cartel stepped up a
campaign of terror over the weekend. The President of Mexico
predicted the violence will only intensify.
Police found the body of the prosecutor investigating the
murder of 72 central American illegal immigrants at a ranch
in rural Tamaulipas beside a road with another unidentified
victim.
The prosecutor, Roberto Jaime Suarez, disappeared last
Wednesday, an apparent victim of kidnapping, according to
U.S. officials of the Department of Homeland Security who
were quoting local news media reports.
On Saturday two bombs exploded in this border city near a
campaign of terror over the weekend. The President of Mexico
predicted the violence will only intensify.
Police found the body of the prosecutor investigating the
murder of 72 central American illegal immigrants at a ranch
in rural Tamaulipas beside a road with another unidentified
victim.
The prosecutor, Roberto Jaime Suarez, disappeared last
Wednesday, an apparent victim of kidnapping, according to
U.S. officials of the Department of Homeland Security who
were quoting local news media reports.
On Saturday two bombs exploded in this border city near a
One of the bombs was located in a car parked next to the stu-
dios of the broadcasting network Televisa. The other was lo-
cated on the street in front ofthe Transit Police headquarters.
The two bombings and the murder of the prosecutor handling
the investigation of the mass killings are believed to be
connected and made headlines worldwide, from Europe to the
Caribbean and Asia. Many news reports mentioned the
resemblance of the Zetas terror campaign to those carried
out by such organizations as Hamas and Hezbollah and Al
Qaeda in the ongoing wars of the mideast.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon vowed he will not back
down in his efforts to contain the violence of drug cartels
and the enforcement organizations they employ.
Speaking at a security conference, he said, "Violence will
persist and even intensify."
President Calderon has more than doubled the federal budget
for combating drug cartels with Mexican military troops from
about $5 million in 2009 to $10 million in 2010. He has
used funds supplied by the U.S. government.
The escalating violence has claimed the lives of more than
28,000 people during the 4-year crackdown.
The Zetas are a coalition of former Mexican Special Forces
commandos trained by the U.S. Army. They mulitplied their
earning capacity by hundreds upon hundreds of percent by
deserting the Army and joining the drug kingpins.
They have now taken up arms against illegal immigrants
transiting the northern tier of Mexican states bound for the
U.S. by extorting their money and making them work for the
drug cartels.
The two bombings and the murder of the prosecutor handling
the investigation of the mass killings are believed to be
connected and made headlines worldwide, from Europe to the
Caribbean and Asia. Many news reports mentioned the
resemblance of the Zetas terror campaign to those carried
out by such organizations as Hamas and Hezbollah and Al
Qaeda in the ongoing wars of the mideast.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon vowed he will not back
down in his efforts to contain the violence of drug cartels
and the enforcement organizations they employ.
Speaking at a security conference, he said, "Violence will
persist and even intensify."
President Calderon has more than doubled the federal budget
for combating drug cartels with Mexican military troops from
about $5 million in 2009 to $10 million in 2010. He has
used funds supplied by the U.S. government.
The escalating violence has claimed the lives of more than
28,000 people during the 4-year crackdown.
The Zetas are a coalition of former Mexican Special Forces
commandos trained by the U.S. Army. They mulitplied their
earning capacity by hundreds upon hundreds of percent by
deserting the Army and joining the drug kingpins.
They have now taken up arms against illegal immigrants
transiting the northern tier of Mexican states bound for the
U.S. by extorting their money and making them work for the
drug cartels.
Their signature method of killing is to behead their victims
and leave the bodies where they will strike the maximum
terror in the people upon whom they are trying to make the
most striking impression. Their techniques are classic and
resemble most the type of insurgency which special forces
soldiers are trained to combat.
A lone survivor of the mass killing, which took place on a
ranch about 70 miles south of Reynosa, said the migrants
were intercepted on the highway by 5 car loads of armed
Zetas who kidnapped them and took them to the rural
location.
A native of Ecuador, 18-year-old Luis Freddy Lala Pomavilla
said the killers demanded the migrants assist in carrying
out assassinations. When they refused, they herded them
into a grain barn and shot them all.
He was wounded in the neck and escaped to a road block
commanded by Mexican Marines whom he guided to the scene of
the killings.
A lone survivor of the mass killing, which took place on a
ranch about 70 miles south of Reynosa, said the migrants
were intercepted on the highway by 5 car loads of armed
Zetas who kidnapped them and took them to the rural
location.
A native of Ecuador, 18-year-old Luis Freddy Lala Pomavilla
said the killers demanded the migrants assist in carrying
out assassinations. When they refused, they herded them
into a grain barn and shot them all.
He was wounded in the neck and escaped to a road block
commanded by Mexican Marines whom he guided to the scene of
the killings.
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